Culture Cup Christmas Special - The Winner

Well, after a hectic Christmas schedule (discussions have taken place about a 'Winter Break' for competitors) we have come to this, the crowning of our Culture Cup Christmas Special Champion. Anyone who has been following the league tables closely, round by round, would know Samo had a commanding lead. He needed to screw up in every one of our fabulous final trio.

The final three rounds had the cultured folk making these selections (note, PJ didn't actually select so got random Aussie things added by me):

Me - My parents reminding me of the time I cried because I got given a bike - the huge box promised more/”I’m the right kind of fat” avocado pyjamas for my girlfriend/Carol Danvers (Captain Marvel)
Julius - Tree/Matching Back to the Future pin badges, for me and someone I love/Gabriel's Message
Twist - Lighting the Christmas pudding/Ferrero Rocher for the wife/Oh Come All Ye Faithful
Rick - Booze for breakfast/A Pink Unicorn Switch case with a princess peach amiibo for the big Hard barman in my local/Silent Night
Samo - the returning disbelief when you’re remained Kirsty Maccoll is dead and Shane McGowan isnt/a meal voucher for Tom Kitchins restaurant for Mum and Dad/The Muppets Christmas Carol
McLaren - Drinking before lunch/Greggs steak bake for local homeless guy/Carol Vorderman
Galted - Watching children singing carols from behind the curtain and waiting for them to sod off/A print of the view over the Isle of Dogs (when it was still farmland) from Greenwich Park next to the observatory - for the missus/Do You Hear What I Hear?
LT - Impeaching the President/Bought a Ginmasters Advent Calendar for my sister-in-law as a present for my brother as she gets randy when she’s drunk/In The Bleak Midwinter
Beer - Turkey sandwiches a few hours after the the roast/Crash Bandicoot trilogy for her indoors/Carol Smilie
Marky - Watching the Queen’s Speech/Money for the kids/Hark the herald angels sing
Hero- Drinking yourself into a coma/a PC for the kids/Away in a Manger
Trebs - Christmas Crackers/Disney mugs for the parents as per tradition/Jingle Bells
LD - Going to the club on Christmas morning with the old man and brother as the missus gets dinner ready with my mam/LAST YEAR: a signed Cardiff Blues top signed by the whole team for my dad/Little Donkey
Super - Getting drunk/Earrings for the mrs/Carol of the Bells
PJ - Being Australian/Six White Boomers/Rain

I'm delighted I organised them like this on my document, it has made it harder to put the results together.

For the three rounds combined, the points are:

Rick - 14
McLaren - 13
LT - 9
Me - 8
Beer - 8
Samo - 7
Twist - 7
Hero - 7
Trebs - 7
LD - 7
Jules - 6
Marky - 5
PJ - 4
Super - 3
Galted - 2

Added to the table prior to these rounds, we have the final scores as:

Samo 35 points
Rick 32 points
LT 28 points
Me 27 points
Trebs 25 points
Twist 25 points
Jules 21 points
LD 21 points
McLaren 20 points
Beer 20 points
Hero 19 points
Pal Joey 17 points
Marky 17 points
Galted 15 points
Superfly 13 points          

That means, as you can all read, our clear winner is Scotland's own: Samo! With a name closer to Santa than everyone else, it is quite fitting that Samo takes it. Rick put pressure on at the last, a quite stellar comeback, but Samo takes the crown. Notable achievements for the likes of McLaren, who went for last to a late jump above famed competitor Hero, excellent work by Super and Galted to blow PB points tallies at the end to finish in the bottom two.

Now I can finally prove to Mrs Samo that I am actually cultured.

Good job Dolph, less Frak ups than anticipated.

Very well run cup, Flipper, was going to say that Tino is no longer missed but he wasn't really in the first place.

The only stain on the competition was the poor quality of voters, which currently seems to be a global malaise. At least I can say I won the argument, though not as convincingly as 'fly.

I am comfortable enough in my own levels of pure, uncut cultural masculinity that I dont need to worry about coming last.

Thanks for running this, Dolphin... and for your proxy selections on my behalf. Apologies for being a slack, lazy and seemingly indifferent bastarde.

Think I'm part of the "global malaise" Galted mentions above. Although I do admit that I fell out of the race around 24-27 December when I realised that I was comfortably lower-mid-table and that this is where I really belong. And that this is where I should remain in the Great Realm of Culture.

Yeah, nicely/badly organized as always Flipper, nice one.

I felt the delay to announce a winner and actually end the competition was part of the charm expected

Very pleased to have won the much coveted 7th place.

7 out of my 15 points came from a choice Flipper made for me.

I proudly take my position as the 13th most cultured person on this website and thank you all